


The Snow Queen: A Very Supernatural Fairytale

by FayJay



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-08
Updated: 2009-05-08
Packaged: 2017-10-02 09:10:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayJay/pseuds/FayJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Once upon a time, and a dark time it was too, there lived two brothers by the name of Winchester, with feet forever wandering and hearts forever bruised.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Snow Queen: A Very Supernatural Fairytale

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time, and a dark time it was too, there lived two brothers by the name of Winchester, with feet forever wandering and hearts forever bruised.

**Once upon a time,** and a dark time it was too, there lived two brothers by the name of Winchester, with feet forever wandering and hearts forever bruised. Their father raised them to be hunters, and he taught them all he knew of stealth and strength and secrecy. In time he died, and left them to carry on his work alone, and so they travelled many paths together, bringing light to dark places and struggling to hold back the encroaching tide of evil – for in those days there were many terrible creatures abroad in the land, with vicious claws and hungry teeth and hearts that brimmed with malice.

Now the elder brother was tall and brave and fair of face, and he was ruled by his heart. The only thing he loved more dearly than the hunt was his family; for his family he would climb mountains, cross deserts, swim oceans, slay dragons. For his family he would beg, steal or lie; kill, torture or die; forsake all hope of happiness and ransom his very soul. It was his greatest joy and his greatest weakness, for his father had impressed upon him when he was but a child that he must proctect his younger sibling no matter what the cost. As the years went by, this young man built his life around the idea of sacrifice, and came to believe that his only worth was as a shield.

The younger brother was taller still, and just as brave and fair, but he was ruled by his head. The only thing he loved more dearly than his family was vengeance; for vengeance he would climb mountains, cross deserts, swim oceans, slay dragons. For vengeance he would beg, steal or lie; kill, torture or die; forsake all hope of happiness and ransom his very soul. It was his greatest sorrow and his greatest strength, for his father had impressed upon him when he was but a child that he must avenge his mother's death, no matter what the cost. As the years went by, and he lost his lover and his father and his brother to the demons, this young man built his life around the idea of retribution, and came to believe that his only worth was as a sword.

For all they knew it not, these two brothers had been watched by creatures of Heaven and of Hell ever since they were born, and the demons of the pit and the angels of the Lord both had their own designs for the Winchesters' future. In time the elder brother, whose name was Dean, failed to protect the younger, and the younger – whose name was Sam – sustained a fatal wound, and died in the dirt and darkness while cradled in his brother's arms. Dean Winchester's love had not been shield enough to keep his brother safe, and his tears were not sufficient balm to heal the bloody wound, and when Sam's heart grew still and his eyes grew dull, the pain of this loss was more than the elder could endure. So it came about that he sold his immortal soul in exchange for one last year on earth, and his brother restored to health, and thought it a fair exchange.

And so Dean Winchester went down into Hell and suffered all the torments that the fiends could conceive in their efforts to break him; and when, at last, in spite of all the courage and the kindness that dwelt within his soul, he finally shattered underneath their blows, he all unknowing fulfilled a prophecy and started the world on the path to the Apocalypse. This was why the Host of Heaven sent the angel Castiel to free Dean from the pit, and why his rotted corpse was made fresh and whole and strong once more. So Dean Winchester resumed his travels across the land with his younger brother Sam, and tried to forget the horrors that had been visited upon him in perdition.

But he did not know that in his absence, a subtle and lovely monster had crept into his brother's heart, and played upon his lust for vengeance. Her name, she claimed, was Ruby, and though Sam Winchester knew better than to trust a demon, still his heart was broken and his hopes were all dust, and every waking moment was sullied with the knowledge of the agonies his brother suffered for his sake. So when Ruby came to him offering power, offering hope, he believed he had nothing left to lose. And so of his own free will he let her sully his tongue with drops of tainted blood the like of which he had tasted when he was a six month babe. And when he felt the strength that coursed through his limbs, he saw only the hopes of taking his revenge upon the creatures who took his brother, and knew nothing of the peril into which he trod.

When Dean was returned to him, young Sam could have left Ruby and her promises behind – but he had tasted power, and his heart still yearned for vengeance; and, moreover, the world was growing ever more terrible, and his brother ever more brittle and in need of protection from the interference of demons and angels alike – and so Sam continued to partake of the demon's blood, and so it wrought its subtle changes upon his body and his soul.

Until at last, seeing that Sam was becoming something terrible, and fearing for his soul (for Dean had his own experience of being transformed into something monstrous by the influence of demons, and knew what it meant to feel humanity being flayed away, and he could not stand to see the same thing happen to the brother he loved more than life itself) Dean tried to intervene.

This did not go well.

And so it came about that, as Dean Winchester lay bleeding on the floor where Sam had put him, and looked up despairingly at the monster his brother was fast becoming, their father's words came unbidden to his lips: “If you walk out that door, don't you ever come back...”

Whether the words were whispered into his ear by some sulpherous goblin or by some subtle seraph, they were the very worst words that Dean could possibly have uttered at that moment. And so Sam Winchester closed his heart and turned his back on home and hope and family, on guilt and duty and fraternal love, and he left with the demon Ruby and did not look back. She smiled a smile both fierce and lovely, and kissed him only twice: once to numb him from the pain, and the second time to cause him to forget about Dean and the Winchesters' quest for vengeance.

"Come with me, love," she said to him, and led him to her car. And Sam Winchester followed, meek as a lamb, and had eyes only for her, for she appeared to him the only pure and perfect thing in all this broken world.

"What is your name?" he asked, for his past life had melted away from his memory like frost at the first lick of sun.

The demon's smile was cold and bright as she looked into his eyes. "My name is Lilith," she told him, licking her blood-red lips. "I am the mightiest of queens, my sweet, and you shall be my knight."


End file.
